My last post, How Successful People Stay Calm, really struck a nerve (it's already approaching 1.5 million reads here on LinkedIn). The trick is that managing your emotions is as much about what you won’t do as it is about what you will do.

TalentSmart has tested more than a million people and found that the upper echelons of top performance are filled with people who are high in emotional intelligence (90% of top performers, to be exact). So, I went back to the data to uncover the kinds of things that emotionally intelligent people are careful to avoid in order to keep themselves calm, content, and in control. They consciously avoid these behaviors because they are tempting and easy to fall into if one isn’t careful.

Friday, Sept. 19, 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Under Armour - 1020 Hull Street, Tide Point, Baltimore, MD 21230

Baltimore Innovation Week starts NEXT WEEK and includes more than 45 events from Sept. 12-20. The fall is just beginning—kickoff the season with a big networking event for tech and entrepreneurship in Baltimore. Come to the Innovation celebration, which will be even bigger than last year and help close out a packed week. More games, more apps, more food and more networking—plus, you get the chance to see first the winners of the second annual Innovation Awards.

BioFactura is a collaborator on a grant awarded to the Geneva Foundation. Ebola drug development funding will be provided under a Partnerships for Biodefense grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The project team is led by the Geneva Foundation (Seattle, WA) and includes partners at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID, Ft. Detrick, MD) and the Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology (Newark, DE). During the 5-year grant, the team aims to develop an effective monoclonal antibody (mAb)-based drug against Sudan ebolavirus.

Currently, there are no established treatments for Ebola infection. Over the past five years, three Ebola outbreaks involving a Sudan strain of the virus have occurred. The need for strain-specific Ebola countermeasures is imperative for treating infected patients and effectively containing outbreaks. The research team looks forward to developing a promising and urgently needed Ebola treatment that targets the Sudan strain of the virus.

There has been a long-running debate in the pharmaceutical industry about the value of being first to market. Companies spend considerable resources seeking to increase the odds of beating their competitors to market and often fret about the commercial disadvantage of being late. In the high-stakes race to market for a novel drug class, companies firmly believe that every month of lead time ahead of a competitor is significant.

It’s not quite that simple. Our analysis of pharma launches confirms a weak first-to-market advantage on average, but with significant nuances dependent on market context. In many instances, the first-mover advantage actually vanishes, particularly when the lead time is short or when the first mover is a small company. This article seeks to identify those situations where first-to-market advantage is strong and those where it does not hold.

Say you invent a medical device. A pacemaker. An improved hip implant. A microchip for the brain. Maybe you can change the world, but first you’ll have to get approved.

A new graduate certificate program in the bioengineering department teaches students the ins and outs of gaining Food and Drug Administration approval. This process is necessary to test the safety and efficiency of all medical inventions before they hit the market, but it can take years of expensive research — and disapproval is common, said William Bentley, the bioengineering department chairman.

Pluristem Therapeutics, a company that develops placenta-based cell therapy products, announced that its licensing partner United Therapeutics is advancing the Phase I study of Pluristem's PLacental eXpanded (PLX-PAD) cells in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).

PLacental eXpanded (PLX) cells are developed by Pluristem to serve as protein delivery platforms that release a mix of proteins for ischemia or inflammation. The treatment technology is also being used to investigate tendon-healing treatments in a preclinical model of tendon injury. The company presented results at the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons’ (AAOS) Annual Meeting last March in New Orleans.

Some of the greatest health care innovations have taken decades to reach widespread adoption, adding to the ever-increasing cost of health care.

We are looking for solutions that have already been implemented at least once and have demonstrated effectiveness. This "scale-up" competition seeks to shorten the time frame for innovation dissemination.

In the fight against cancer, Johns Hopkins University is invoking a popular attitude these days: go big or go home.

The Johns Hopkins radiation oncology department has teamed up with Toshiba Group to establish the Toshiba Center for Big Data in Healthcare at the Science + Technology Park at the Hopkins campus in Baltimore.

A white powdered chemical compound emerged from two University of Maryland School of Medicine laboratories more than 10 years ago with a name destined for oblivion, but a future that now looks promising as a treatment for the most challenging cases of prostate cancer.

Today, VN/124-1 is a drug candidate with a name — galeterone — a pharmaceutical company founded on its potential and a record of strong preliminary results in clinical trials with human patients.

Startup Maryland announced support from TEDCO (www.tedco.md) as a full-tour sponsor of the Pitch Across Maryland 2014, the third annual state-wide tour and celebration of entrepreneurship and startup companies.

Starting on September 15 and running through October 3 the Pitch Across Maryland tour will again traverse the state all in the name of celebrating Maryland’s diverse communities of venture building.

“Maryland’s innovation economy is front-and-center in many of the most lucrative industry and innovation categories,” stated Michael Binko, founder of Startup Maryland.  “From traditional ‘feds, eds and meds’ (government/education/healthcare/life sciences-bio), to cloud computing, cyber-security, creative/arts, clean energy/green, to autonomous systems, Maryland entrepreneurs are breeding innovation ventures that are disrupting a wide array of industry sectors and TEDCO has consistently been the recognized leader in early-stage resource commitments.”

This is the first in an exciting series of programs designed to keep you current on issues affecting you as a leader of your organization, and provides an opportunity to connect with your colleagues.

On October 7, Gary will discuss the role of disruptive technology in today’s market and how to create an adaptive, decisive, mission-oriented corporate environment that can help you drive your company forward. In addition to leading one of the largest associations of technology companies, Mr. Shapiro is at the helm of the International CES (Consumer Electronics Show), the world’s largest annual innovation event. It unites more than 150,000 retail buyers, distributors, manufacturers, market analysts, importers, exporters, and press from 150 countries.

Join us as Gary shares his passion for innovation and explains what it is like to be at the forefront of a multi-billion dollar industry and what is coming next.
I look forward to seeing you at this terrific event. Click here to register now!

Optum Labs has named the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) as one of the latest partners to join its research collaborative. Led by Eleanor Perfetto, PhD, MS, professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research (PHSR) at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, this new partnership will enhance and augment UMB's existing research and informatics resources with the data, tools, expertise, and infrastructure available at Optum Labs to increase the scope and impact of Alzheimer's disease and healthy aging research.

"This partnership with Optum Labs enhances UMB's recognition as a leader in 'big data' research," says Perfetto. "In addition to expanding research opportunities for faculty and students across the University, the partnership increases our competitiveness for grants and contracts from industry, government, and philanthropic organizations. We look forward to combining our expertise and resources with those at Optum Labs to pursue innovative projects that will improve health care delivery and patient outcomes for individuals with Alzheimer's diseases and other aging-related issues."

Sebastian Seiguer had already founded emocha Mobile Health by the time his company began its four-month term in January 2014 as part of DreamIt Health Baltimore, an accelerator for developing health IT and health care startups that graduated its first class in May. But Seiguer’s venture, an online remote patient management platform for clinicians to monitor patients’ symptoms and recovery via smartphone, was a one-man operation, and he needed help.

“The rallying point was the accelerator,” says Seiguer, who launched emocha in fall 2013 by licensing technology from the Johns Hopkins University. “It allowed me to quickly recruit a strong team because there’s a lot of excitement generated by joining an accelerator and a solid program.”

The Johns Hopkins University has entered into a partnership agreement with Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group aimed at speeding up the development of new technology and moving the resulting products toward the marketplace more quickly.

The agreement will enable ATAP to draw on the expertise of computer scientists and others at Johns Hopkins and approve funds for joint technology projects in as few as 30 days. That turnaround time is much shorter than the period typically required for obtaining grants from government agencies and private organizations.

The innovation program designed to move academic findings and translational research into the commercial marketplace, known at Johns Hopkins University as FastForward, is expanding early next year, with a second facility scheduled to open in East Baltimore to provide lab and office space for startups. Some lab space will be available starting in September 2014.

The first accelerator, FastForward Homewood, at the historic Stieff Silver Building near Homewood campus, was opened by the Whiting School of Engineering in June 2013, and today it houses nine startups from across the university. The second incubator, FastForward East at the Rangos Building on North Wolfe Street, will be more closely tied to the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, the Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, while still allowing scientists and technical experts from a wide background to take advantage of the new facility.

Get answers now from experienced entrepreneurs and legal/business professionals on how to build a successful startup company. Receive free and impartial advice, brainstorm business strategies, investigate funding opportunities and learn about the vast resources available to entrepreneurs.

DATE:   September 16, 2014

PLACE:   Columbus Center, 701 East Pratt Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21202 USA

REGISTER:   Schedule an appointment here to guarantee your time slot. Walk-in appointments are also available.

nvestors in entrepreneurs have a special in-the-trenches wisdom gained through years of experience. This investor experience is now available to entrepreneurs and prospective early-stage investors through InvestorIQ.org, a free, online curriculum that provides knowledge essential to improving startup investment.

Investor IQ allows startup backers and founders to educate themselves on how investors decide whether to invest at all, where to invest, and how their money will be used and returned. A video series draws on the successes and failures of thousands of angel investors over the last 15 years, delving into five questions early-stage investors should ask themselves before they put money into an entrepreneurial venture.

As the Ebola death toll climbs above 2,000, a university researcher is working to develop a vaccine for the virus.

Alan L. Schmaljohn, a microbiology and immunology professor at University of Maryland, Baltimore, has successfully isolated one of the structural sections of the virus, which can be used as a platform for a working vaccine.

There were few surprises for local colleges and universities in the oft-quoted U.S. News and World Report annual rankings released Tuesday.

The Johns Hopkins University maintained its 12th-place position for national universities, falling between Dartmouth and Northwestern. Hopkins is focusing on its undergraduate experience, with a goal of making it among the top 10 in the nation by 2020.

Neuroscience Catalyst to Focus on Mood Disorders and Alzheimer's Disease

Janssen Inc. (Janssen) today announced it has signed an agreement, facilitated by the Johnson & Johnson Innovation center in California, with the University of Toronto's Centre for Collaborative Drug Research (CCDR) to form an open-source collaboration focused on novel therapeutic approaches to the treatment and management of mood disorders and Alzheimer's disease.

It’s no surprise that social-media campaigns can raise awareness of an issue, but the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge may be unprecedented in its impact on a relatively rare disease. The campaign, in which participants must donate to an ALS cause or take videos of themselves being doused in ice, has gone viral since it began in late June. But it has also generated controversy, with some questioning the attention and flood of cash for a disease that affects a small number of people.

As of Friday, the ALS Association had received $53.3 million since July 29, compared with $2.2 million by that time last year. To put it in perspective, the National Institutes of Health’s yearly budget for ALS research is $40 million. Other ALS charities are also benefitting similarly from the campaign.

The low-interest loan program called the BioFund has issued more than $2 million in loans to 12 businesses that account for 135 jobs in Southeast Louisiana, said a progress report released Wednesday (Aug. 27) by the New Orleans BioInnovation Center, which runs the fund.

The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development provided the funding to support businesses in a 12-parish area impacted by Hurricane Katrina. The Louisiana Office of Community Development, Disaster Recovery Unit, channeled the money to the program at the BioInnovation Center.

According to CB Insights data, funding to digital health/health IT companies has already topped $2.2B in the first half of 2014.

With the space becoming increasingly crowded and well-funded, one effective way innovation trackers can understand which areas (and likely companies) will play a key role in future of the digital health space is by following the smart money.

Two Washington entrepreneurs with a history of building successful companies have teamed with a local businessman to start a venture capital fund focused on seed stage companies focused on applications that run on mobile devices.

The fund, called Kiwi Venture Partners I , has raised $2.5 million from 24 limited partners, including 12 from the Washington area. The LP investments range from $25,000 to $500,000.

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (EBS) announced today that it has signed a contract with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to develop a dry formulation of NuThraxTM (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed with CPG 7909 Adjuvant), also known as AV7909, the companys next generation anthrax vaccine candidate. This five-year contract, valued at up to $29 million, provides funding for manufacturing and non-clinical activities through the preparation of an Investigational New Drug application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The dry formulation of NuThrax is intended to increase stability of the vaccine candidate at ambient and higher temperatures, with the objective of eliminating the need for cold chain during shipping and storage.

Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG said on Monday the European Union has approved the use of its drug RoActemra in patients with early-stage rheumatoid arthritis.

Roche said the European Commission has backed RoActemra as a treatment for patients with severe, active and progressive rheumatoid arthritis who have previously not been treated with methotrexate.

WHEN: Thursday, Sept 25th, 2014 From 3:00 to 5:00 PM 

WHERE: One MedImmune Way Gaithersburg MD 20878

BioBuzz Double Helix Sponsor MedImmune is hosting a special BioNetworking event for Post-Docs and Professional Scientists on September 25th at their headquarters in Gaithersburg.

This event will include music, lawn games, hors d'oeuvres, drinks and a scientific "Speed Networking" session and is open to Post-Docs & Professional Scientists who currently work in the Therapeutic Areas of:

* Oncology
* Respiratory, Inflammation & Autoimmunity
* Cardiovascular & Metabolic Diseases
* Infectious Diseases & Vaccines
* Related scientific disciplines

To RSVP: email info to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Sign up by 9/12 and Provide your:
Name
Company
Phone
Therapeutic Area
Let them know you learned about this event through BioBuzz!
This event is for Post-Docs & Professional Scientists

MIMETAS, in a consortium with Radboudumc and FHNW, has received 1.6 million USD funding for development of a kidney-on-a-chip for toxicological applications. A panel of experts from GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Roche, NC3Rs and renowned academic institutions selected MIMETAS’ solution from a strong line-up of competing technologies.

The funding is awarded in the context of the NephroTube Crack-it Challenge to support development of a microfluidic renal model predicting renal toxicity during pre-clinical development. In collaboration with the Radboudumc Pharmacology-Toxicology Department and the Swiss FHNW, MIMETAS will use the funds to develop a high-throughput kidney-on-a-chip model by combining its OrganoPlate™ 3D-culturing technology with the human renal cell line ciPTEC™, analyzed and validated in three separate sites. The resulting model will be used to detect renal tubular injury observed in drug-induced nephrotoxicity. The model’s early prediction of nephrotoxicity will help to reduce animal experiments.

This Monday September 1st marked the beginning of when investors with Angel Venture Forum D.C. started looking at submissions from companies for the Nov. Showcase.

AVF screeners do start reviewing plans as soon as submissions are made and some companies who have submitted to date have already received assistance and invitations to angel groups. Since we typically get a large number of applications and it does take the screeners a while to get through them all. Thus, the sooner an application the better.

The initial screening will occur through Sept. 15th. So you may still make submissions and corrections on applications up until Sept. 15th if needed. However, it is recommended that you complete your submission as soon as possible so that you get in the queue.

To submit an application – no later than Sept. 15th - visit www.angelventureforum.com. For any questions, please feel free to contact Mike Gildea, AVF COO at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 814-451-1151.

A group of UC Berkeley students launched what they call the first-ever student-run health tech incubator Thursday at the office of Downtown Berkeley’s Skydeck, which fosters campus startups.

The incubator, Catalyst@Berkeley, aims to provide a framework for students to bring viable prototypes to the market and open doors of entrepreneurship to undergraduate students interested in health care innovation.

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved the first of an eagerly awaited new class of cancer drugs that unleashes the body’s immune system to fight tumors.

The drug, which Merck will sell under the name Keytruda, was approved for patients with advanced melanoma who have exhausted other therapies.

When British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline announced in October 2012 that it planned to make detailed data from its clinical trials widely available to researchers outside its own walls, the scientific community was stunned. For a company that spends $6.5 billion a year on research and development, it was a sharp turn away from the system of data secrecy that had made it one of the world’s largest drug companies, with 2013 sales of $43.6 billion. 

The announcement came a few months after the company pled guilty to misdemeanor charges in the U.S. that it had marketed drugs for unapproved uses, based on improperly reported clinical trial data, and failed to report safety data on another drug later shown to raise the risk of heart attacks. Given the timing, many wondered if GSK’s move was more about rehabilitating its image than embracing data transparency.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland is seeking a dynamic, innovative and accomplished biomedical/biotechnology executive with demonstrated scientific and entrepreneurial expertise to provide strategic vision and leadership for the Office of Translational Alliances and Coordination (OTAC). The OTAC is charged with developing, implementing and leading translational research programs that create recognizable commercial value for discoveries and innovations during their gestational stages and facilitating their ultimate translation into new diagnostics, devices, therapeutics and tools. The Office is also charged with identifying emerging areas of translational opportunities, serving as a focal point for extramural researchers for information on NHLBI-wide small business technology development opportunities.

The OTAC Director is an expert in entrepreneurism and technology advancement with the vision and unique skill set required to recognize commercial value in very early stage technologies, guide their scientific and business oriented risk-mitigating development and the capital acquisition activities required for their ultimate customer/patient deployment. These skills, gained through experience in both the academic research and the start-up/small business or industry sector, will provide the OTAC Director the capability to oversee and effectively manage existing NHLBI translational research technology development programs and the development of new programs and initiatives required to identify and advance innovations and technology platforms for research, diagnosis, treatment, control and prevention of cardiovascular, lung, blood and sleep disorders.

SAVE THE DATE: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014

The MCCC Business Awards Dinner Committee and Chair of the Board Lisa Cines, CPA of Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP invite you to join in the celebration of those who make our economy and community thrive. This annual sold-out event attracts 700+ guests including award winners, sponsors, business leaders, elected and government officials and the media.  Join us for a great evening of Meaningful Connections, Commerce and Celebration.

The Life Sciences Discovery Fund (LSDF) today announced nearly $750,000 in Proof of Concept grants to Washington state for-profit and non-profit organizations to promote translation of health-related technologies from the laboratory to the commercial marketplace. Also announced was nearly $56,000 in supplemental funding to an existing grant to increase the commercial potential of a drug to protect hearing in patients taking certain antibiotics. (See Backgrounder Information.)

The LSDF Board of Trustees selected the awardees following review of proposals for scientific and technical merit, commercial potential, and health and economic benefits to Washington.